Erin O'Sullivan
I've been a vegetarian since I was a 13 or so and went vegan at 21. I love to cook, and I thought I'd share one of my favourite recipes with you: these cupcakes took second place at the 2012 VegFest cupcake contest, and they're actually pretty healthy for a cupcake! Pictures are available on the National Capital Vegetarian Association's blog: http://www.ncva.ca/blog/erins-almost-award-winning-cupcake-recipe/
CUPCAKES:
Ingredients:
1 cup thawed frozen concentrated orange juice
1/3 cup neutral oil like canola or safflower
1/3 cup raw sugar
1 cup pureed sweet potato
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn flour (not corn meal, not corn starch – corn flour is yellow but has the consistency of flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Using a hand blender, blend the orange juice, oil, sugar, and sweet potato for about a minute. The mixture will lighten in colour. Make sure there are no lumps of potato!
Whisk the remaining dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. When you’re sure the oven is preheated, pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold together until just combined. The key to fluffy cupcakes is minimal mixing (use a rubber spatula – it helps).
Spoon the batter, which should be very “poofy,” into the cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on them. If you see even a hint of browning, take them out sooner. These cupcakes look and taste best when they are bright orange!
Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan to continue cooling on a rack.
RASPBERRY COULIS
Ingredients:
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch salt
Directions (you can do this while the cupcakes are baking):
Puree all ingredients with hand blender. If you don’t like raspberry seeds, put the mixture through a fine sieve. Otherwise, just put the whole thing in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the mixture does not burn. Remove from heat.
COCONUT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Ingredients:
I/2 container Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch salt
Directions:
Beat the cream cheese and coconut oil until light and fluffy – it may take a while since the coconut oil likes to stay chunky. Stir in the sugar and salt and beat again until light and fluffy (again, it’ll take 5 minutes or so). Spoon frosting into a piping bag or whatever you use to pipe frosting.
ASSEMBLY:
When the cupcakes are no more than lukewarm and the raspberry coulis is still fairly warm, spread about a teaspoon of the latter onto each of the former. Don’t use too much – the stuff is potent!
When both cupcakes and coulis are completely cool, pipe on the icing and top each cupcake with an inverted raspberry.
I've been a vegetarian since I was a 13 or so and went vegan at 21. I love to cook, and I thought I'd share one of my favourite recipes with you: these cupcakes took second place at the 2012 VegFest cupcake contest, and they're actually pretty healthy for a cupcake! Pictures are available on the National Capital Vegetarian Association's blog: http://www.ncva.ca/blog/erins-almost-award-winning-cupcake-recipe/
CUPCAKES:
Ingredients:
1 cup thawed frozen concentrated orange juice
1/3 cup neutral oil like canola or safflower
1/3 cup raw sugar
1 cup pureed sweet potato
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn flour (not corn meal, not corn starch – corn flour is yellow but has the consistency of flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Using a hand blender, blend the orange juice, oil, sugar, and sweet potato for about a minute. The mixture will lighten in colour. Make sure there are no lumps of potato!
Whisk the remaining dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. When you’re sure the oven is preheated, pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold together until just combined. The key to fluffy cupcakes is minimal mixing (use a rubber spatula – it helps).
Spoon the batter, which should be very “poofy,” into the cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on them. If you see even a hint of browning, take them out sooner. These cupcakes look and taste best when they are bright orange!
Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan to continue cooling on a rack.
RASPBERRY COULIS
Ingredients:
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch salt
Directions (you can do this while the cupcakes are baking):
Puree all ingredients with hand blender. If you don’t like raspberry seeds, put the mixture through a fine sieve. Otherwise, just put the whole thing in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the mixture does not burn. Remove from heat.
COCONUT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Ingredients:
I/2 container Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch salt
Directions:
Beat the cream cheese and coconut oil until light and fluffy – it may take a while since the coconut oil likes to stay chunky. Stir in the sugar and salt and beat again until light and fluffy (again, it’ll take 5 minutes or so). Spoon frosting into a piping bag or whatever you use to pipe frosting.
ASSEMBLY:
When the cupcakes are no more than lukewarm and the raspberry coulis is still fairly warm, spread about a teaspoon of the latter onto each of the former. Don’t use too much – the stuff is potent!
When both cupcakes and coulis are completely cool, pipe on the icing and top each cupcake with an inverted raspberry.
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